Morrissey: Low in High School

Morrissey has come out with a landmark album. Just 13 years after his previous landmark,  self-defining “You Are the Quarry”, Morrissey fittingly,  and thankfully for his mob of new and old fans, comes out with an album that redefines the malaise in this world while also pointing out love and survivalmin a new way. 

Morrissey proves through his lyrics that he holds no -ism, just an unfunneled and unfiltered pointbof view which has caught up with the times. He’s against war (listen to the hauntingly first person death spell of “I Bury the Living”), police brutality (“Who Will Protect Us from the Police”), and the media (My Love,  I’d Do Anything for You” and “Spent the Day in Bed”). Yet he is for Brexit, in the mockingly sardonic “Jacky’s Only Happy When She’s Up on the Stage”, where everyone just seems to need to exit to getntheir freedom back. Wht proves to be the point lyrically is the movement against the stereotypes brought about by neoliberalism. Morrissey doesn’t care what his critics think.  And this emboldens the album and makes it into a storybook against politically correct angst. 

Morrissey has evolved immensely musicallyas well. His band has tightened up their sound while broadening tehir musical horizons. One of the best songs on the album is the controversially titled “The Girl From Tel  Aviv Who Wouldn’t Kneel”. Morrissey takes on the role of jazz lounge singer and does it impeccably. You expect to see him taking over Bill Murray’s role in “Lost in Translation”, but without the trite hoopla. Every song stands by itself yet is an important piece in making the album mesh. The ever-popular “Spent the Day in Bed” and “I Wish You Lonely” are cute pop tunes and stand alone, yet they are there ro inrtroduce us to media corruption and loss of individualism. They re mild intros to more serious songs. Andmit seems that the more serious song is, the more heavy or dramatic the music gets. The band goes from heavy rock to ballad,to pop, to jazz, to something akin to country, etc… in a natural fashion. 

Easily the best album of the year, Morrissey proves that he stiill has it in his late-50s. This is Morrissey’s best music since “You Are the Quarry” and the 3rd-best album he’s made.

POSTSCRIPT: Not sure what Lili Simmons has to do with the album, but I include her here as part of the memory of those classic The Smiths album covers. The true fans of old get my drift.

John Keats Has Everything on Me

So far as bright stars go

Shining through the window

Onto her sultry bossom

As she heaves in sleep

While I look outside the window 

And think of Van Gogh
The virgin  land

Opening herself to me

To Keats

To others

And we all go our way

Take what we think we need

What we think we’ll one day understand 
Factories  become cubicles

Pens are keyboards

No matter what

No matter when

John Keats I’ll never be

Fake News Includes Misleading Hypotheses

https://www.avclub.com/morrissey-has-some-stupid-shit-to-say-about-sexual-assa-1820574028

Being a democratist by my definition, Morrissey doesn’t hold on to -isms and speaks of the truth. We don’t have to agree on everything, but please save us the media’s handling of facts. 

Morrissey blames the media and fake news for modt things. Whike we may not agree with his assessment,  he speaks from a goid place. From an honedt place. And though he blames the 14-year-old boy’s parents for Kevin Spacey’s acts, which made me cringe,  I still have to try to understand where he’s coming from.

As a democratist, I give Morrissey the forum. As a democratist, I also have the right to tell him he’s got to use a filter. As well, I freely say that some of the ideas he espouses make me cringe and want to start diatribes against him.

Judt my little rant.

Oh! Wretched Me

Ted Kouretas (c) 2017

I come to you from some nadir below

My wretched soul searching for mercy

Mercy comes to those who wait and plot

Who seize the moment

When it does come

————

I come to you from lofty towers

On the acme of a jeweled hill

Where consternation stirs

Oh

Wretched me

 Alone with myself

————

From the unknown valleys of my mind

I break through the void

I distinguish between road forks

I become one with time

And place

————

I exist in an ebb and flow through time

Parked here

Partly to serenade

Partly to understand

But fully to find an apt copilot

————–

Time is a diversion

Fear is akin to practicality

For they were both formed

 By the big boss men

The Light—My First Ever Haiku

Feel the energy

Two broken souls together

See eternal light

Movember—Because Men Are Dying Too Young

Movember is here. And it’s about time. It’s time to take the stigma out of admitting you hurt. Time to share your pain. Time to let it all out. Time to save your life. It’s time to help others keep living , strive to get cured, and build their legacy. 

For what seems forever, men hadn’t had the opportunity to reach out or cry out. Movember makes it possible for men to speak openly about feelings kept hidden because of the stigma that scared them so much.

Jumping off a bridge instead of seeking help for your depression has often been the natural outcome. Why do so many more men than women jump to their deaths? In a patriarchal society, men are not allowed to show weakness. I get an image of a CEO closing the doir to his office and just crying into his palms. Why is he stuck there? How can he escape? Will that feeling ever go away?

Depression is serious and complex, as can be seen in this article from The Guardian.

Then there’s the younger generation,  who have to come to grips to what once was a woman’s problem—body image. Most od of us look like this guy on top than this guy below.

Yet we want to be that guy. We want to be The Rock.  

I know Movember is about awareness to men’s diseases. For me, it is an extension of Mental Health Awareness. It simply puts the focus on men. And I thank God for that. So many lives  have been saved even though there can be no concrete stats. 

Yes, men’s cancer awareness is very important in pointing out there are cancers out there that are very lethal that need as much funding as breast cancer.

The biggest problem for men during these fast-paced changing times is the ability to change quickly enough. Simply put, there is a universal movement towards a more egalitarian existence between both genders. Assimilation and adjustment can be hard for many men. There are more rules. There is cultural interference. 

Here’s an example of the confusion. This needs to be addressed. 

So stop living in the 70 s. Participate. Listen. But most importantly,  spread the word.

EMPOWER ONE ANOTHER!!!

Attrition

From “A Fine Line “

Late spring

Lilac season almost done

Still light at 8:00

Yet the routine kills

—————

Lavender dreams

Weekend spas

Flowers blooming

Pantiless, in the grass

——————-

You have nothing if you have loneliness

Especially if you’re a sweet soul

Never understood

Appreciated by very few

———————

She smells the flowers

Rejoices

Enjoys her lone splendour

Still in the nest

———————

Attrition is difficult

We’re used to being alone

Crying ourselves to sleep

———————

We bathe in the goodness of newfound friends

Try to let go of the past

But cry sometimes

To feel better

———————

Gimme ten minutes of happiness

For a day of sadness

A fair deal

It’s so delightful

Liberating

————————

My dear

Uncover your facade

Lose your constant giving

Receive some admiration

—————————

I study your face

That wicked half-smile

Hiding all your woes

What I would give to make that smile real

Sincere

To liberate your spirit

Untire your bones

Your emotional baggage

Lift you up

Watch you levitate

That unbearable lightness….

——————–

I write as I wake before dawn

Feeling you

Knowing we’ll meet

Embrace

Kiss

In such an unforced, natural way

With complete freedom

We co-exist

——————

There’s so much to adjustment

But I trust your judgement

And if all that happens stays only in my head

It shall have to be enough

———————–

Attrition

Escape

Freedom

They have found us

At a later age

But we’re eternally young

Copyright Ted Kouretas 2014